The Fundamentals

Sam Amick of the Sacramento Bee:  “When he signed with the Kings and explained that Toronto ‘wasn’t where God wanted me to be,’ many around the league took jabs in private conversations. It wasn’t all that different from his decision to attend Miami, after which he said, ‘I had faith this would be the right school for me,’ when asked why he wanted to be a Hurricane. None of which mattered to Salmons, who has found ways to shield himself from certain aspects of the professional sports world, in which he is atypical in so many ways. Before agreeing to speak for this story, Salmons – who was interviewed at Chris Webber’s Center Court restaurant – declined a request to meet with his family at his home. He also requested his mother not be interviewed. At a time in his career when most players would seek added exposure, Salmons is more private than ever. Fame, even as he became a starter for the first time in seven seasons, is not a priority. In a league where so many players opt for fast living and wild times on the nightlife scene, he heads straight home after practices and games. Even his teammates, many of whom say they respect and even admire him for his ways, know very little about him beyond the court.”

Jason Quick of The Oregonian:  “O’Neal scoffed at the notion that anyone would project Oden to be the next Shaq. ‘The next Shaq lives with me. Seriously. My youngest son will probably be the next Shaq if he decides to play,’ O’Neal said. ‘I was a special case. David Robinson… there is only a couple special cases that only come around once every while. Yao (Ming), he’s a special case.’ And then, ever so subtly, O’Neal landed the real insult. It was veiled as a compliment, but was deliberate in its pronunciation. ‘Guys like Odom and (Andrew) Bynum — they are 7-foot and great athletes, but it will probably take a couple years to get to that dominant level,’ O’Neal said. No, that’s not a typo. He said ‘Odom,’ not Oden. If there is an ultimate insult in the NBA, it’s mispronouncing a guy’s name. Especially when he is the No. 1 overall draft pick. And don’t think for a second that O’Neal didn’t know he was mispronouncing Oden’s name.”

Clips Nation:  “In case anyone was out there asking the question, “Is there any downside to trading away your most reliable shooting guard without getting one in return?” this game is exhibit A. When Cat Mobley was traded, Ricky Davis was shooting 29.9% on the year coming off the bench for the Clippers.  Since the trade as a starter, he’s 2 for 14.  In the course of those two games, he’s lowered his shooting percentage to 27.2%.  And mathematically speaking, it’s not really easy to lower your percentage when you’re already under 30%.  It’s obviously in Ricky’s head now; early in the third quarter he missed a wide open three by about 2 feet to the right of the rim.  It seems hard to believe that he won’t bust out at some point, but how can you continue giving all these minutes to a guy making about 1 in 4 shots on the season, and much much worse lately?”

Ross Siler of The Salt Lake Tribune:  “If you ever wanted to see an NBA head coach, let alone a 66-year-old one, take control of a game as if he were a high school coach, then Saturday was the game for you. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan watched his team get off to a slow start, watched it get carved up in a zone defense and spent the rest of the half on his feet and ordering his players around the court. It didn’t hurt that the Jazz also started trapping off the pick-and-roll. Sloan was yelling at his players to pass the ball inside, to get up into their men on defense and to run the floor. One scout was laughing that one moment Sloan hollered for his players to hit the floor after a loose ball and the next he was yelling to get back on defense. I mentioned the high school coach comparison to C.J. Miles after the game and he agreed. ‘Like when the coach puts you in a full-court trap and calls out where everybody is supposed to be,’ Miles said. The bottom line was it worked. The Jazz needed a jump-start and Sloan helped provide it.”

John Schuhmann of NBA.com:  “Walsh, of course, isn’t allowed to speak of specific players that aren’t currently on his roster. But he also insists that no specific 2010 free agent is the (big) apple of his eye. ‘First I want to see what we’ve got,’ he said. ‘Then I want to see who fits in with what we’ve got and go from there.’ James is the kind of player that will fit in anywhere. And D’Antoni’s system will give him the freedom to run the floor like he did with Team USA, with whom he’s been the star of stars for the last three summers. Whether or not D’Antoni’s system can win a title is another question, but things are looking up in New York. The Knicks are playing fun basketball. And now we know the money will be there. But will the supporting cast? Even if the right role players that are supposed to lure James aren’t currently in New York, Harrington believes Walsh can bring them here in time. ‘I think everybody is starting to look at the Knicks as an organization that’s definitely going to be working toward a championship,’ he said. ‘I think that’s how everybody across the league feels and in 2010, there’s going to be a lot of guys calling, trying to be a part of the Knicks.’”

Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times:  “The Lakers finally broke a strange habit last season, able to beat teams with bad records after failing to do it for several seasons. They’ll get a chance to prove themselves again with a string of games that can hardly be called running the gantlet: Sacramento twice, New Jersey, Dallas, Toronto, Indiana, Philadelphia, Washington and Milwaukee. The Lakers (10-1) aren’t going to start losing now, are they? ‘The first three years of my career, we did stuff like that, and we would lose to teams who were under .500,’ center Andrew Bynum said. ‘I think Charlotte still has a winning record against us since I’ve played on this team.’”

Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:  “This time the Heat allowed Michael Beasley to play. This time, the rookie forward made the opposition pay. After yanking the No. 2 overall draft pick during the previous two games due to foul trouble and defensive deficiencies, first-year coach Erik Spoelstra gambled after Beasley picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter of Saturday’s 109-100 victory over the Pacers. ‘He was starting to get into his rhythm,’ Spoelstra said. ‘I figured ride him as long as we could.’ Allowed to remain on the court, Beasley scored 10 points in that third quarter as the Heat erased a 15-point deficit.”

Marc Berman of the New York Post:  “Marbury said Friday morning’s conversation with D’Antoni didn’t last long enough for him to refuse to play. According to Marbury, D’Antoni told him in the mid-afternoon he had 20-to-25 minutes for him in the wake of the Jamal Crawford trade. The conversation took place before the second trade that left the team with just seven able bodies. ‘He said I have 20, 25 minutes for you if you want to play,” Marbury said in an interview yesterday morning. ‘I said, you’ve told me you’re going in another direction and I’m not in the plans. I never refused to play.” At that point, D’Antoni didn’t bother to press the issue, according to Marbury. ‘He had a smile on and just said, ‘I totally understand it, I get you,” Marbury said.”

Frank Dell’Apa of the Boston Globe:  “Rajon Rondo has a point guard’s sensibilities – pass first, set up teammates, get everyone involved, shoot as a last resort. And since the Celtics are allowed to play with only one ball at a time, Rondo’s task becomes complicated as he attempts to distribute the wealth among Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Paul Pierce. But Rondo has been breaking through recently after an inconsistent start to the season – by shooting first and asking questions later. He has averaged 15.3 points in the last three games; he shot 3 for 17 and totaled 9 points in the previous three contests.”

Adam Lauridsen of the San Jose Mercury News:  “As many readers have lamented over the past week, it looks like small ball is here to stay.  I’m disappointed and surprised, given that Nelson has more talented big men on the roster at the moment than ever before.  In slight defense of Nelson, however, it’s hard to get these big men the ball so they can score when you don’t have guards capable of dribbling in traffic, then making basic entry passes to the post.  Jackson comes the closest, but Andris’ hands mask how wild many of his passes are (even if they’re well intentioned).  Friday night, Andris couldn’t do enough to cover how much Jackson is forcing the ball movement.  Jackson’s poor ball handling is a large part of the reason he can’t make the passes the Warriors need.  Because he’s slow penetrating into the lane, the defense can adjust to cover the passing lanes.  He gets boxed in and has to force the pass, resulting in 8 turnovers like we saw last night.”

Jeff Caplan of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:  “The Mavericks are relying on the quick development of several young players, perhaps earlier than anticipated. Jerry Stackhouse is out indefinitely with a heel injury — and he wants to be traded — and Josh Howard on Friday missed his fourth game in 13. Fourth-year swingman Antoine Wright, who won the starting job at shooting guard during the preseason, sat through his third consecutive DNP on Friday. More responsibility has come in a hurry for fourth-year guard Gerald Green, journeyman forward James Singleton and third-year forward Shawne Williams. Singleton and Williams started accumulating significant minutes only in the past few games. Meanwhile, Green, inserted into the starting lineup for five straight games, is a starter on paper only. He’s played no more than 14 minutes in each start, and Friday’s disappointing stint lasted only the first 5:48 of the game.”

Tom Moore of The Dallas Morning News:  “Tracy McGrady isn’t himself these days. Even if he wasn’t the first to tell you, a glance at his stats would reveal something isn’t right. His average of 15.9 points for Houston is a nine-year low. McGrady is shooting below 40 percent for the first time in his career and has already failed to score in double-digits four times. McGrady, 29, had surgery on his left knee more than six months ago and still grapples with a loss of leg strength. There are 42 players in the league who average more points.”

Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News:  “Employed primarily as a shooting guard before Friday, Mason became the third player to start at the point for the Spurs this season, joining Tony Parker and George Hill. He toggled back and forth between both positions as the game progressed, scoring at will from either slot. Mason poured in season-high 29 points, hit 7 of 10 3-pointers and generally made life miserable for Utah in the Spurs’ 119-94 victory. ‘I love playing the point,’ Mason said. ‘I love having the ball in my hands. I’m able to make more plays that way.’ One of the qualities that made Mason attractive to the Spurs in last summer’s free agency period was his versatility. Mason, 6-foot-5, played both guard positions for the Washington Wizards last season. The Spurs have used him at small forward as well. With shooting guard Manu Ginobili and point guard Parker sidelined with injuries, Mason has emerged as a serviceable replacement for either.”

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel:  “It wasn’t surprising the 22-year-old Howard made a loose reference to a children’s fable, saying Yao the giant ‘was like a big beanstalk. You got to chop.’ Yao easily won the matchup of conference all-star centers as the Houston Rockets defeated Orlando 100-95 Saturday night to end the Magic’s league-best five-game winning streak. The freakish 7-foot-6 Yao started strong and finished strong, scoring 22 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and luring the 6-11 Howard into early foul trouble. Howard, who dominated the Pacers with five blocks in the Magic’s win at Indiana on Friday night, played only 27 minutes, scoring 13 points and hauling in nine boards.”

George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal:  “LeBron James is gambling more on the defensive side of the ball, and it’s paying dividends. If he continues at his current pace of two steals per game, it will be his best season since 2004-05 in that category. He averaged 2.2 per game in his second season. Coach Mike Brown doesn’t really encourage that riverboat mentality, but he isn’t exactly discouraging it this year. Which means his confidence in what James can do defensively is showing. ‘If you want to be a tough, grind-it-out defensive team, you can’t go for steals because if you go for steals, you’re going to miss more than you get,’ he said. ‘And all those times you are missing, you’re putting your team at a disadvantage on the backside.’ It’s different this year, because James is tuned in to the system. He knows it, knows where his opponents are and where he needs to be, Brown said.”

The Hoop Doctors:  Lebron James Dunks on Entire Atlanta Hawks Team [Video]

Mark Heisler of the Los Angeles Times:  “Newell’s accomplishments — an NCAA title at California in 1959, an Olympic gold medal in 1960 with the Dream Team of its time — were impressive, but his impact went far beyond that. Gentle, unassuming and without an ounce of self-promotion, Newell crossed over into professional basketball, casting a long shadow over both worlds. He was the coaches’ coach, shaping generations of players at his Big Man’s Camp, serving as surrogate father to greats as disparate as Jerry West, the NBA’s Logo, and Knight, the college game’s winningest coach. Appropriately, Newell died at a friend’s home in Rancho Santa Fe, waiting eagerly for the arrival of an old friend. It was West, working on a new book and eager to introduce his co-author to Newell, who, as Lakers GM, had talked him off so many ledges at the end of his playing days.”

Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus:  “Durant is undoubtedly the centerpiece of Oklahoma City’s rebuilding project, and it was his lack of development that ultimately doomed Carlesimo. It quickly became evident during Durant’s rookie season that he would not take the NBA by storm and dominate instantly as he had at Texas. By year’s end, he had shown progress, improving his efficiency over the last two months of the season while carrying a bigger load following the departure of Wally Szczerbiak and Wilcox’s absence due to injury. This year, however, Durant seems to have given back some of that improvement. His field-goal percentage has improved to 44.6 percent from 43.0 percent because he’s taken the three-pointer out of his repertoire. Durant is getting to the free-throw line less frequently, so his True Shooting Percentage is slightly down. Meanwhile, Durant’s assist rate is down and his turnover rate up. Brooks’ challenge is to change those trends.”